<p>Dr Katherine Zappone, TD <a href="http://www.childcarefinder.ie/e6-5m-investment-for-major-childcare-expansion-starting-in-september/" target="_blank">announced yesterday</a> that more than &euro;6.5m in&nbsp;capital funding has been allocated through the Department of Children and&nbsp;Youth Affairs to 1,006 pre-school providers nationwide. This represents&nbsp;an increase of over &euro;2.5m on the amount of &euro;4m announced for this&nbsp;programme in February 2016.&nbsp;</p>

<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; color: rgb(125, 125, 125); font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">
	<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Read Next:</strong></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://www.yourdaysout.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 122, 183); text-decoration: none !important; background-color: transparent;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">Find fun family things to do</span></a></strong><a href="http://www.yourdaysout.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 122, 183); text-decoration: none !important; background-color: transparent;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;in your area</strong></span></a></li>
	<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Read Next:</strong></span></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</strong></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://www.yourdaysout.com/news/this-is-motherhood-its-raw-stunning-messy-and-freaking-hilarious-1442" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 122, 183); text-decoration: none !important; background-color: transparent;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">&quot;This is motherhood&quot; viral photo</span></a></strong></span></li>
	<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Read Next:</strong></span></span>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.yourdaysout.com/news/10-fun-family-days-out-in-ireland-you-must-try-and-visit-this-summer-1349" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 122, 183); text-decoration: none !important; background-color: transparent;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Top Ten fun family days out in Ireland.</strong></span></a></li>
</ul>

<p>Minister Zappone said: &ldquo;The extension of the Early Childhood Care and&nbsp;Education (ECCE) pre-school scheme so that every child will be able to&nbsp;access free pre-school from the age of three until they start school&nbsp;(entering pre-school in the September, January or April after they turn&nbsp;three) is a welcome&nbsp;development for children, parents and Early Years&nbsp;providers.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;It will see more than 60,000 additional children enrolled in&nbsp;the programme by April&nbsp;2017.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>However, the Association of Chilcare Professionals (ACP) has critcised the late announcement as most workers have finished for the summer.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">This late announcement means many unemployed early childhood professionals will have to work for free over summer <a href="https://t.co/7q4DwWnXvg">https://t.co/7q4DwWnXvg</a></p>
&mdash; ACP Ireland (@acpire) <a href="https://twitter.com/acpire/status/751723391980302336">July 9, 2016</a></blockquote>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>At a <a href="http://www.yourdaysout.com/news/protesters-warn-parents-of-threat-to-free-childcare-year-1419">protest march in Cork</a> last week&nbsp;Kevin Callinan,&nbsp;IMPACT deputy general secretary&nbsp;said:&nbsp;&ldquo;The reality is that, as things stand, no contracts are in place and there is certainly no guarantee that this will be sorted by the time parents seek to take up their entitlements in just over two months&rsquo; time.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In the meantime, thousands of skilled and experienced early years professionals are being forced out of work for the summer because the Government only funds early years services for 38 weeks.&quot;.</p>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>